Selecting Hymns:

Selecting Hymns: just what is involved? (Part II: music)

In last month’s music column, the selection of appropriate hymn texts for worship was considered, and now it is time to consider the music as well. The music may seem to be not quite as important, yet it is the hymn tune (along with the first line of text) that is most often remembered by parishioners when discussing hymns. And that itself can be a bit confusing, as there are often multiple tunes set to the same text!

When composers write a hymn tune (by which we include the harmonies as well as the melody), they have usually chosen a text for their composition, and are not themselves the author of the words. Great writers of hymn texts are found in all periods of the church’s history, such as Venantius Fortunatus in the 6th century, Charles Wesley and Isaac Watts in the 18th, John Mason Neale in the 19th, and Robert Bridges in the 20th, all of whom made tremendous contributions to the church’s great wealth of hymnody. In the case of Fr. Neale, he also brought to light many texts from the early Christian and Medieval periods through his elegant and singable English translations from the original Latin. Many of the texts from these authors’ pens were set by musicians of their own time, but many were set to new music at later times as well. This is done by composing music that has the same meter as the text, which makes possible the singing of older texts to more familiar “traditional” hymn tunes; after all, singing early texts to their original Gregorian chants is not the easiest thing to do! The editors of hymnals usually provide some additional help in this, by offering a single text to different musical settings, seen in the hymnal as the 1st, 2nd, and sometimes even a 3rd tune.

When a composer creates a musical setting for a hymn text, he will then give his tune a name, something that creates an instant identification of his tune with the text. Since any number of composers might set the same text to music, this also instantly identifies which music is being referred to. This is also helpful when the organist selects a composition that is based on a given tune, so that we know which tune is being quoted. An example might be Healey Willan’s prelude on the tune “Slane”, which is the music for Jan Struther’s text “Lord of all hopefulness”, hymn 363 in the 1940 Hymnal. When a hymnal gives multiple tunes for the same text, then indentifying the tune by its name clarifies things.

The matching of textual and musical meters also helps the organist with a perennial problem: a text that is particularly appropriate to conclude the service might be set to a tricky tune in the hymnal, which might lead to awkwardness in singing. However, this text can be sung to any familiar melody that has the same meter, which is much better for concluding the service with strength and confidence. In this way, the music planner would not violate one of the unwritten rules of hymn selection, namely “thou shalt not use an unfamiliar hymn as the final hymn”!

The mention of familiar vs. unfamiliar tunes leads to some thoughts about a challenging aspect of hymn selection. Although the 1940 Hymnal contains 600 hymns, many are offered in more than one tune, and different churches use different tunes in their tradition. Church musicians would usually say that the first tune is the more musical one, but many parishes use the second tune for a variety of reasons. However, with such richness of resource, it is often best to use both tunes at different times of the church year, thus not depriving the parish of either one. And it’s always important to realize that 10 people might say they never heard of “that tune”, while another group of 10 might wonder how that was possible, having always sung exclusively “that tune”!

Steven McDonald

The service of sung Evensong is a hallmark of traditional Anglican worship, being heard in it’s most beautiful form in the choral versions offered in the cathedrals and college chapels of England. The psalms, the evening canticles Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, and well-known eventide hymns all combine to create a service of quiet contemplation, a perfect foil to the often chaotic events of daily life, and a fitting way to conclude one’s busy day.

A fine commentary on Evensong comes from the Rev. Michael Till, from 1970-1981 the Dean of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, England:

“If you are prepared to join in this turning towards God, you will find this is a Service in which you can join, though perhaps in ways that are unfamiliar. Here is a liturgical, architectural, and musical space into which, without fretting too much about the words, you may gather the preoccupations and anxieties of your own life and hold them together with a recollection of the god whose acts we celebrate. But many have found that once they have quietly offered the preoccupations which are chattering in their minds, they are free silently to go on to offer to God all that they are.”

Evensong services at Trinity Church combine hymns, congregational settings of the canticles, and organ music to give utterance to this most distinctive of Anglican liturgies, and our first Evensong will take place on Friday, 11 October, at 5:00 PM.

The music of the historic Anglican church, like the beliefs themselves, reflect the practices and traditions of a reformed catholic faith. Although the actual church was founded in 1534 by King Henry VIII, its music draws from European traditions of both pre- and post-reformation times, as well as having developed music for its own particular forms of worship. Hymns, music for choir, and works for organ form the heart of the Anglican musical identity.

At Trinity Church, congregational singing is the focus of our music, with the hymns, Mass settings, and canticles all being found in the Hymnal 1940. This book has long been acknowledged as the finest hymnal of the twentieth century, and all historical musical styles are well represented: Medieval plainchant, Reformation-era chorales and Psalm-tones, well-known Victorian hymns, and tunes from the early 1900’s are all found in this most versatile book. Numerous hymns are sung during Matins, Mass, and Evensong, as well as musical settings of the texts of the canticles and Mass Ordinary, all of which shows a high level of congregational participation in the service, something that the Reformers valued highly.

The organ music heard in the service occurs at the start (to set a mood of prayer and contemplation), the Offertory (for additional reflection following the sermon) and at the conclusion (to usher the congregation out into the world). These works are selected from the great heritage of music specifically written for the organ, and from the hands of such composers as Bach, Couperin, Mendelssohn, and many others. At Trinity, such pieces are often ones in which one of the hymn tunes used in worship can be heard as a solo melody, thus giving an additional “hearing” of the hymn in a new musical guise.

The music heard at Trinity Church illuminates the service in ways that are both gentle and reflective, as well as extrovert and proclamatory, living proof that the “beauty of holiness” can be found in a small neighborhood parish church as well as in a great cathedral.

Music at Trinity: Thanksgiving, Advent and Christmas

As we move towards the conclusion of the church’s liturgical year, and begin the new one on 30 November, we are called to experience the varied and beauteous liturgies of Thanksgiving Day, and the Advent and Christmas seasons.

The music heard at the celebration on Thanksgiving Eve (held this year on Wednesday 26 November at 5:00PM) provides yet more opportunity to experience the “beauty of holiness” at Trinity Church. The hymn “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come” analogizes the autumn harvest with the gathering of God’s people at the end of time, with reference to St. Mark 4: 26-9, and St. Matthew 13: 24-30. The composer George Elvey named his tune St. George’s Windsor after the royal chapel where Elvey served as music director for many years. Although the Reformation-era hymn “Now Thank We All Our God” is not particular to an American Thanksgiving service, it seems to sum up the mood and thoughts for this time of year in particular. Martin Rinckhart’s words are an example of perseverance amidst adversity: he penned this inspiring text during the Thirty Years War in the seventeenth century, and after his village had been sacked three times by invading forces. In spite of this disaster, Rinckhart turns to God in thanks and praise for his deliverance. Finally, on Thanksgiving Eve be sure to listen for this hymn’s great Reformation tune as the basis of the organ postlude by J.S. Bach, in an arrangement by the American concert organist Virgil Fox; a great twentieth-century virtuoso paying tribute to the greatest organist of the eighteenth-century!

The seasons of Advent and Christmastide are times of particular richness in our Anglican liturgical and music traditions. The Advent themes of watchfulness and expectation find their fulfillment in the Nativity story of the Incarnation, with all its diverse components. The joyous proclamation of the angels, the stillness of the holy night, and the adoration of the shepherds at the crèche are all part of the familiar story, in which we are invited to participate, “O come, let us adore Him”. Although the narration is well known, our tradition lets us focus on the individual parts as they unfold throughout the entire Christmas season, and not just on Christmas Eve, which leads to a greater understanding of the deeper message. Musically, while the commercial world may be hearing the familiar carols starting before Thanksgiving (although these days the onslaught seems to begin at some point around Labor Day!), our Christmas celebration begins on December 24th. This being the case, what do we sing in Advent?

The dual nature of Advent (the coming birth of Christ, and His return at the end of time) is proclaimed in our Advent hymns. “Hark! a thrilling voice is sounding” and “On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry” call upon the worshipper to prepare for Christ’s birth, and to prepare a place in one’s heart to receive Him. Charles Wesley’s hymn “Lo, He comes with clouds descending” foretells the Second Advent, with its many references to imagery from the book of Revelation. The words are stern, and serve as a reminder to get one’s spiritual house in order before receiving the Saviour. What a wonderful and meaningful alternative to the sentimentality of much popular Christmas music, and so appropriate as a true preparation for the joy of Christmas!

The Nativity itself is celebrated with various emphases, all appropriate to the moment. The hymns of Christmas Eve speak of the nighttime announcement of the angels, and of the miraculous birth itself: “It came upon a midnight clear”, “While shepherds watched their flocks by night”, “O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie”, and “Hark! the herald angels sing (it seems that herald angels, like herald trumpets, are there to directly proclaim). This latter carol, also by Charles Wesley, was written for his Hymns and Sacred Poems of 1739, and was later joined to music of Felix Mendelssohn, music originally composed for a text in celebration of Gutenberg’s invention of movable type! Perhaps the most beloved carol, the Austrian “Silent Night”, was written in great haste on Christmas Eve of 1818, a collaboration between priest Joseph Mohr and his organist Franz Grueber. The church’s organ had broken down, and a hymn was needed that had the feel of an Austrian folksong, and that could be accompanied by two guitars. Necessity in this case was not only the mother of invention, but the creator of a miniature masterpiece. Christmas Day focuses on the joy of the Incarnation, so it is fitting that we sing “Good Christian men, rejoice”, with its refrain “Christ is born today!” “The First Nowell” is a compact summary of the Nativity events from Christmas Eve right through to the Epiphany visit of the Wise Men, and Christina Rossetti’s “In the bleak midwinter” evokes a message of warmth in the midst of winter’s cold, and is sung to Gustav Holst’s soothing and poignant music.

Advent expectation, Christmas Eve contemplation, and Christmas Day exuberance are all brought forth in our hymns and organ music for the season, all of which bring further emphasis to the focus on Advent expectation, Christmas Eve contemplation, and Christmas Day exuberance are all brought forth in our hymns and organ music for the season, all of which bring further emphasis to the focus on expectation and fulfillment, as brought to us by the birth of Christ.

Steven McDonald